Rapidly expanding Manchester Printers will take delivery of a Heidelberg Versafire EP next month, completing a series of investments that will give the company 25 to 30% greater capacity and add about £400,000 to the group’s £2.3 million turnover.

In December, Manchester Printers acquired Berkeley Business Forms, a print management company that has operated from its Deeside, North Wales, base for 30 years.

This will increase the business handled by Manchester Printers, based in Trafford Park, which at the end of last year added a guillotine and bookletmaker and which, in addition to the Versafire EP, has placed an order for a second hand Printmaster 52 two colour litho press (with NCR work in mind).

‘We are well established in digital print,’ said group managing director Gavin Page. ‘We have to date been a Konica Minolta house but as we look to the next stage of development (a three year plan) we needed the Heidelberg Versafire EP. We did test equipment from both companies but the Versafire means we can handle a heavier weight of paper (up to 470 g/m2) and print on textured stock with superb print quality (which is vital for greetings cards work), The speed and reliability also really impressed us and the banner sheet extension means we can handle A4 landscape brochures.’

The Versafire has been supplied with Heidelberg’s digital front end which features an uncoated simulation for better print quality on uncoated work.

Manchester Printers handles a wide range of commercial work but with an emphasis on brochures and flyers. It has an interactive website where customers can tap into standard formats for economical print solutions or use the expertise of ‘Gavin, Doctor of Print’.